After The Happily Ever After
by MizJoely
Summary: Sequel to my post-Sozin's Comet story "Sometimes A Happy Ending". Zutara and Taang. It's four years later, kids abound-until someone starts taking them, one by one. Chapter 11 up.
1. Prologue: Four Years After the Wedding

_A/N: Here is the sequel to m__y story "Sometimes A Happy Ending Is Just A New Beginning." Thanks to everyone for being so patient while I worked this out in my head. And a head's up for babyfic haters: This is going to be the ultimate example of that genre, as I opted to have as many second gen Aangers in there as feasible. Including some I don't think people will be expecting! Enjoy!_

* * *

To put it diplomatically, Zuko and Katara's daughter, Her Royal Highness the Princess Kyami, was a high-spirited child. To put it bluntly, she was a little devil and a royal pain in the ass when she didn't get her way. However, the only one to put it bluntly was Toph, safe and smug knowing that her own daughter was a sweet-natured angel that no one believed her capable of producing, even now that she was nearly a year old.

Kyami was four, with her father's amber eyes and mother's darker skin, black haired and still slightly pudgy with baby fat, but rapidly showing signs of growing up to be as slender as her mother. She was also the heir to the Fire Lord's throne, and she knew it. So did everyone else she came in contact with; the word "imperious," Katara noted wryly at her daughter's third birthday, was a term that seemed to have been coined just for her.

And now she was demanding that her parents give her a baby brother. She adored Toph and Aang's daughter Nika and wanted a baby of her own. "But a boy," she ordered, leaning against her father's knee and gazing up at him, yes, imperiously. "I want a bruvver."

"And why a brother, little dove?" her father asked indulgently.

"So I won't have to share my stuff wif another girl," was Kyami's disingenuous answer.

Zuko laughed out loud, stifling it only when his wife glared at him. He spoiled his first-born rotten and he knew it; it was a good thing Katara wasn't afraid to discipline the royal princess or there'd be no living with her.

"Kyami, if Daddy and I have another baby, only the Spirits know whether it'll be a boy or a girl," Katara put in. "So what do you think has to be done in order to arrange things to your liking?"

She thought about it for a moment, her eyes lighting up when the answer came to her. Imperious she might be, but the royal heir was also sharp as a lightning strike. "Pray to Agni and La an' ask them?"

Katara nodded, holding her arms out for a hug. "Exactly right, little dove," she whispered proudly as her daughter hurtled herself into her mother's arms. "Maybe you should start right now!"

Zuko stared after Kyami as she took off at top speed, her body guard and nanny following a few paces behind. He turned his stare on his wife. "I assume you had a reason for getting rid of her?"

They were sitting at the small table by the window in the royal bedchamber, their favorite place to breakfast when larger functions weren't required of them. Kyami had flounced in shortly after sunrise, as always, trailed by her nanny and body guard, one fluttering and apologizing, the other stoic but eyes glinting with hidden laughter. Both were devoted to the little martinet; she'd had them wrapped around her smallest finger from the time she was born, approximately seven and a half months after her parents' wedding day. Not that anyone was counting; and if they were, they knew better than to say anything about the timing.

"Of course I did," Katara replied to her husband's suspicious question. She stood up, then plopped herself onto his lap. "If we're going to give her a baby brother or sister, we'd better get started." She kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck, his own arms automatically snaking around her waist as he returned the kiss.

"Mmm, I suppose you're right," he whispered when the kiss ended due to lack of breath on both sides. He nuzzled her neck. "I don't have anything scheduled this early, how about you?"

"Not a thing till that lunch with the court ladies." Katara made a face. "I wish Suki was here already," she said wistfully. "Or at least Toph; those lunches are a lot more, um, lively when she and Aang are visiting." Suki was due to arrive sometime later in the week, with Toph, Aang and Nika due in a few days later, and Katara was impatient to see her friends again.

Zuko gave an ungentlemanly snort. "Right. Lively. That's the word."

Katara punched him on the arm, but lightly. "She's settled down a lot since having Nika."

"Yeah, and hopefully she'll settle down even more once Aang convinces her to marry him," Zuko shot back.

"I think we're getting off topic," Katara said uncomfortably. She still didn't quite understand why her friend refused to marry the man she loved, the man who had repeatedly proposed to her ever since discovering her "interesting condition" almost two years ago. Toph loved Aang, there was no question about her feelings, but she wouldn't explain why she wouldn't marry him.

As Zuko returned to nuzzling her neck, Katara put her friends' romantic issues firmly out of her mind. After all, she had a daughter who wanted a baby brother, and who was she to deny the little demon anything? Smothering a laugh at the mental image of her adorable little girl with red skin and horns, she allowed Zuko to sweep her up in his arms and carry her back to bed.

**oOo**

Several satisfactory hours later both Fire Lord and Lady were up and about palace business. Four years of marriage hadn't lessened their passion for one another, nor the abiding love behind that passion. Katara had secretly feared a lessening of that passion between them after Kyami's arrival, but Zuko had set to work putting her fears to rest in the most enthusiastic way possible.

In fact, they were both surprised and even a bit worried when Katara didn't find herself pregnant again right away, but Kanna was on hand to remind them that children came in their own time. So they settled into enjoying the child they had, as well as the lives they'd made together, and decided to let the future take care of itself.

Today was the first time Kyami had put in her two cents worth one way or the other, and Katara was relieved that she was demanding a sibling rather than fighting the idea of having one. She would probably be put out whenever a sister or brother did arrive, jealous of the time and attention a new baby would need, but at least if it happened now she was at an age where there was some hope of reasoning with her about the situation.

Yeah, right. Reason with Kyami. Katara made a face. As if.

Still, in spite of her daughter's…spirited nature…she'd settled into motherhood easily. Almost as easily as she'd settled into her duties as Fire Lady. Having Lady Ursa and Gran-Gran around hadn't hurt, but everyone had been relieved, herself the most, at how well the people of the Fire Nation accepted her, once they got past their initial wariness at having a Waterbender sharing the throne.

Fortunately, Kyami was a Firebender through and through, just like her father. Knowing that the succession was secure and that one of their own would sit on the throne after Zuko had gone a long way toward settling any leftover doubts, at least as far as the Council was concerned. And the Fire Sages, who had been the most vocal in their doubts about Zuko's choice of wife, were silenced once and for all once they realized that the people were not only tolerating Katara, but were slowly but surely growing to love her.

And Kyami? Tyrant that she was, everyone seemed to love her, no matter how humble or exalted. A fact that still confused Katara even while it comforted her. It seemed that no matter how much things changed, there was some comfort to be taken in seeing the royal bloodline dominating in a mixed marriage.

All this insight hadn't come to Katara overnight, or even on her own. She'd spent many frustrated hours storming about their private chambers, complaining to Zuko that she was surrounded by a bunch of ungrateful, xenophobic jerks.

"Yeah, well you knew that going in," Zuko had pointed out, reasonably enough. Then he'd kissed her, knowing full well that "reasonable" wasn't what she needed to hear at the moment. "I love you," he whispered after the kiss ended, and her arms had tightened around him and they'd started making love…and been interrupted by a one-year-old Kyami who'd slipped away from her dozing nanny and into her parents' bedroom without being noticed by anyone.

Katara's cheeks shone red with remembered embarrassment, at the mad scramble for clothing and Kyami's innocent question: "Mommy? Where's you jammies?"

They'd debated locking the door at night after that, then discarded the idea in favor of a toddler-sized screen instead; Kyami would have to push her way past it, giving her parents ample time (they hoped) to hop under the covers if she ever made her way back in on her own again.

Katara sighed and shook her head. Reminiscing wasn't going to accomplish anything, and she had that stupid lunch to prepare for. Zulina, her wardrobe mistress, was no doubt waiting impatiently for her Queen to show up and start picking out gowns. It wouldn't do for the Fire Lady to be caught wearing the same gown to the same type of function more than once. A sinful waste in Katara's eyes, but change was slow, she accepted that, and this was the least of her worries. If she and Zuko and Aang could get the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdoms and Water Tribes to continue on their peaceful course toward the future, then she'd gladly suffer through multiple changes of wardrobe in a single day. At least she could take comfort in knowing that the gowns she was forbidden to wear twice were given to others to make over and use, retired servants and shopkeeper's wives who would never be able to afford such finery on their own.

It was a small thing, but small things added up; she wanted to do as much for her adopted home as she could, and this was just one more layer of ice on the iceberg of kindness she was determined to leave as her legacy.

_One step at a time, Katara,_ she counseled herself. _One step at a time._


	2. Something Always Goes Wrong At Dinner

**One Week Later**

Finally! Today was the day Suki and Sukka were due to arrive for their annual visit. Katara could hardly wait; she was going almost as crazy waiting for the ship to dock as Kyami was.

Kyami adored her cousin, even while she hated the fact, frequently and at the top of her lungs, that he was older than her. He was a good-natured child who followed his cousin around like an obedient puppy whenever they were together, but that still wasn't enough for the little martinet. Katara remembered with particular fondness how her daughter had ordered Sukka to be younger than her the last time they visited.

"'kay," had been his placid response as he went back to playing with his Aapa toy.

The mortified expression on Zuko's face had been priceless. "Are you sure you and Toph didn't switch babies at some point?" he demanded in a whisper, while Katara grinned and shoved him away playfully.

"Sorry, Fire Lord, but her Royal High-handedness is definitely our daughter," she'd told him, still grinning.

It was always wonderful when everyone got together.

Well, almost everyone. Sokka's death still hurt, four years after the fact. But Katara took comfort in seeing her brother living on through his son. Sukka wasn't exactly a miniature Sokka, but he was close. It had brought as many tears as joy in the first year of her nephew's life, for Katara and Suki both. It had been even harder on Hakoda, who commented one night that it was like watching Sokka grow up all over again. Then he'd smiled and told Suki what a wonderful gift that was, and the moment went from sorrowful to joyful just like that.

And now Suki was coming for a visit; she and Sukka would be there for three whole months. Even better, Toph and Aang were bringing Nika and staying for the entire time as well, two months longer than they usually did at this time of year.

Katara was practically dancing with impatience as the end of the day grew near, eliciting giggles from Kyami and demands that she be allowed to join her mother as she swept back and forth in the garden, twirling every other step. Laughing, she opened her hands and pick Kyami up, moving back and forth in an exaggerated motion that brought her daughter's giggles to shrieks of delight. "Daddy! Daddy! We're dancing!" she called out as Zuko approached.

He joined them, grinning broadly as Katara whirled to a stop, staggering and nearly losing her hold on Kyami, who launched herself into her father's arms. He wrapped them securely around her, dropping a kiss on her forehead, then turning his attention back to his wife. Her cheeks were flushed and her hair was coming out of its elaborate braids. She never looked lovelier; he leaned over to kiss her warmly on the lips. "Well, wife, you look like you might need to tidy up a bit before you're ready to receive guests!"

"Oh! Are they here?" Katara demanded eagerly. It had been months since she'd seen her friends, when she and Zuko had managed a "state visit" to the South Pole.

He nodded. "Just docked. Figured I'd let you know myself. Ready to go meet them?" He picked at a loose strand of her hair. "After you fix yourself up, I mean."

She batted his fingers away. "Oh, who cares how my hair looks! Suki won't!" She made to move past him, but he grabbed her sleeve and pulled her against his side.

"Everyone cares how your hair looks, my love; you're the Fire Lady, remember?" Although he kept his tone teasing, Katara knew he was serious, and gave in with a sigh. She knew a euphemism for "put your crown on" when she heard it, and four years of marriage had helped her figure out when she could successfully argue with her husband…and when she couldn't.

"Fine, just give me five minutes." She kissed Kyami and hurried off. "Be good for Daddy, honey! Mommy will be right back!"

**oOo**

Suki was full of gossip over dinner. It was just the three of them tonight; Zuko made it a policy never to eat with anyone but close friends and family unless state matters were involved, and a visit from Suki definitely fell outside that constraint. When she wondered aloud why Ursa wasn't there, however, he and Katara exchanged grins before he answered her. "Well, my mother, it seems has found yet another reason to visit Ba Sing Se."

"You mean yet another reason to visit your uncle?" Suki asked with a wide grin of her own. "You know, for someone who used to fret over how long it took you and Katara to finally get together, he sure takes his own sweet time!"

"Yeah, I know," Katara sighed in response. "But it's not just him, it's Ursa as well. I think she has trust issues."

Zuko rolled his eyes. "Of course she has trust issues," he said. "Look what my father put her through."

That put a temporary damper on the conversation, but it wasn't long before Suki managed to lighten the mood by telling a long, convoluted story about some of Sukka's latest antics that had the three of them laughing heartily by the time the desert course was served.

The two children had already been fed and sent to bed, Sukka sharing Kyami's room tonight at her insistence. He and his mother still had the small house Zuko had gifted Suki and Sokka with on their marriage, but every visit they somehow ended up spending most of the time in the main palace, which suited everyone just fine.

As they finished the last bites of the delicious tarts the palace chef had prepared there was a sudden bustle of noise at the door. It burst open, and Aang and Toph entered to cries of delight from their friends.

Toph was beaming. "Nika was asleep so I put her in with Sukka and Kyami, hope that's okay." Her careless tone indicated her complete lack of concern as to whether or not it actually was okay.

_Typical Toph,_ Katara thought fondly as she jumped up to give her friends welcoming hugs, Zuko and Suki not far behind her. They were settling back down in their seats, with food ordered up for the hungry travelers, when the door burst open a second time.

They all stared open-mouthed as Ty Lee stormed into the room, looking around wildly before zeroing in on Aang. "Where is he?" she shouted, waving her arms angrily. "How dare you!"

"Where's who?" Zuko asked with a frown and a glance at Katara, who returned the glance with a bewildered expression; she had no idea what Ty Lee was talking about. It had been a long time since the young acrobat had visited the Fire Nation, spending most of her time on Kyoshi Island as far as the rest of them knew.

Ty Lee, Katara realized with a shock, was crying. She sank to her knees and prostrated herself in front of Aang, who looked as puzzled and confused as the rest of them. "Please," she whimpered, raising her head just enough to look up into his eyes. "Please, Aang, I'm sorry I kept you from him. Please, just give him back."

Aang's face paled and he slowly rose to his feet. "Ty Lee, I swear to you, no matter what you think, I didn't take him. How long has he been missing?"

"He who?" Toph asked with a frown. "Ty Lee, you're not making any sense!"

"Ty Lee, maybe we should talk about this in private," Aang said with an uneasy glance at the others, although to Katara's eyes he saved his most nervous glance for Toph.

"If you didn't take him, then it's too late for private," Ty Lee replied brokenly. She fumbled at the pouch hanging by her waist, pulling out a crumpled piece of parchment and handing it to Aang. "I thought this note was from you. Looks like I spent the last four years trying to protect him for nothing."

"What does it say?" Zuko demanded with an irritable growl. "Who's this 'he' you two keep talking about?"

"Our son," Aang replied faintly, eyes scanning the single line of text the note held.

A stunned silence met that announcement. Without a word Toph stood up and walked, slowly and with dignity, out of the room, closing the door gently behind her. Aang made an abortive move to follow her, then sank back down on his haunches and dropped his head into his hands.

"You two have a son?" Katara demanded, head whirling. This couldn't be happening, it was crazy…but Ty Lee was nodding, confirming Aang's words.

"His name is Tyo, he's going to be five on his next b-birthday," she said with a hiccup. "I got this note and thought that Aang…"

"You thought I took him," Aang completed the thought. "I guess I can't blame you."

He held out the note to Zuko, who read it aloud. _"Keeping the Avatar away from his son was a big mistake."_ He rubbed the bridge of his nose, eyes shut tight, then snapped them open and turned to Ty Lee. "Wait, you said his name was Tyo? Isn't that the name of the cousin Mai's been watching for her aunt and uncle the last couple of years?"

She nodded. "That's the story we made up," she confessed. "To keep him safe. Only I guess it didn't work. I don't know who could have known!" She looked at Aang beseechingly. "I never told anyone and neither did Mai."

"Neither did I," Aang replied to her unspoken question, his voice low and heavy with shame. His gaze flickered to Zuko and Katara; if he was about to say something, he changed his mind and swallowed his words.

Zuko filled the ensuing silence with a series of crisply asked question. "How long has he been missing? Do you have anyone searching for him, or did you really believe that Aang, who has apparently kept this secret for the past five years, suddenly changed his mind and stole Tyo away?" He couldn't keep the sarcasm from his voice, although he tried.

Ty Lee dropped her head, not meeting Zuko's gaze as she mumbled her response. "Of course I had someone looking for him, Mai and the other Kyoshi Warriors are searching. They just know Tyo's missing, not who he is. When we couldn't find him I came right here, hoping that…"

"Hoping that Aang had, what, snapped and kidnapped your child rather than talking to you about it?" Katara asked, eyes flashing angrily. "Ty Lee, how could you keep such a secret from us? We're your friends!"

"I know, it was wrong, but I was scared something would happen to him if anyone knew who his f-father was!" She was unable to meet Katara's eyes as she spoke, and her hands fidgeted nervously with the fabric of her dress. "I'm the one who made Aang promise not to tell, not even Toph. I just wanted to keep him safe!" she said with a sob. "How many times has someone threatened Kyami and Sukka, just because they're your children? How much worse would it be for the son of the Avatar?"

"And we weren't going to be able to raise him together as parents anyway," Aang added, his voice brittle. Katara's heart went out to him at the pain on his face. "Ty Lee made that quite clear as soon as she told me she was pregnant and that I was the father."

"Aang, we had one night together after Sokka's funeral," Ty Lee broke in impatiently, as if this was something they'd hashed out long ago. Which, Katara realized with a pang, it must have been. "One night that wasn't meant to be anything more than a way to ease our pain. You didn't love me, you were still half in love with Katara for Agni's sake! And you know I was right; I could tell you and Toph were together at Katara and Zuko's wedding, and I wouldn't have told you at all but I figured you had the right to know that much at least. I didn't want to be the reason to bust up your relationship with Toph, and I didn't want my baby having to live with death threats hanging over his head his entire life because of who his father was."

"None of this is going to get your son back," Zuko broke in impatiently. "Ty Lee, Aang, come with me to my office. We need to get all the details so I can help in the search. Where was he when he went missing?"

Ty Lee obediently rose to her feet. "At Mai's house," she replied. "He-he doesn't know I'm his mother, he thinks I'm just Aunt Ty Lee from Kyoshi Island."

"Come on," Zuko ordered curtly. He stopped at the door. "Katara, can you try and talk to Toph, fill her in on everything? I'll let you guys know what we figure out." She nodded and watched as he, Ty Lee and Aang headed out the door.

Suki, who had sat silent and wide-eyed through the entire scene, turned to look at her sister-in-law. "Katara? Are you all right?"

She shook her head. "I don't know, Suki. I mean, this is nuts! I know Aang and I aren't as close as we used to be, but we're still friends, we all are. His best friends! I mean, yeah, I guess I understand why Ty Lee was worried, but to keep Aang away from his own son and not let him tell anyone, even Toph?" She gnawed on her lower lip worriedly as she thought about the quiet way her friend had left the room. "Zuko's right, we have to try and find Toph. She needs us right now, and she needs to know that Aang didn't cheat on her or anything." She shuddered. "If Zuko kept a secret like that from me, I'd be furious. I can't blame her for walking out."

"I think I know where she might be, if she isn't with the children or in her and Aang's quarters," Suki replied. "She told me about her favorite place on the palace grounds, the wild garden Ursa designed."

Katara nodded. "I know it. There's a pond in it deep enough for swimming, I think I remember her saying something about spending time there when she wants to be alone."

* * *

_A/N: Well? Was it a big enough bombshell or too predictable for words? Let me know!_


	3. Harsh Words

They found Toph sitting on the edge of the pond, skirts hiked up above her knees and bare feet dangling in the water. If she heard or sensed their approach, she made no sign, simply remained seated with bowed head, hands clenching the paving stones lining this edge of the pond hard enough to leave marks even if she hadn't been a Master Earthbender.

When Katara and Suki joined her, hunkering down on either side of their friend, she spoke, a low monotone worthy of Mai. "I always knew he was keeping something from me, right from the start. Well, from right after your wedding," she corrected herself, tilting her head in Katara's direction. So she knew exactly who had come after her. "If you're thinking he cheated on me, he didn't. He even told me that he'd been with Ty Lee, that she was his first. So I know that wasn't the secret he was keeping. But he never even hinted at what it might be. Until now."

"Ty Lee told us it was from before you were together," Katara confirmed after a moment. She tucked her feet under her legs, sensing it could be a long time before any of them returned to the palace proper. "Toph…"

"Don't, Katara." Toph spoke sharply this time, her voice brittle, and the Fire Lady realized exactly how hurt she was by this unexpected revelation. "Don't try to excuse either one of them. Yeah, Nika gets death threats, but we keep her safe, always have and always will. We would've done so for Tyo as well, if she'd just given us a chance. Hell, they could have moved in with us; Aang isn't the type to fool around and we all know I could tell if he did. Especially if it was right under my nose." She lapsed into a morose silence while Suki reached up and gently took her hand, holding it in the shared silence of the twilight hour.

"He should've told me," Toph continued after a few minutes had passed, the sun slowly removing itself from the view of the others. She felt its disappearance, felt the cool night air pressing in, and raised her face to catch the last bit of warmth before it vanished entirely. "He should've trusted me. Especially once I found out I was pregnant with Nika."

"You're right, I should have. I'm sorry."

The voice came from the shadows behind them, instantly recognizable as Aang's, even troubled and uneven and unexpected as it was. Toph remained seated, but Suki and Katara rose to their feet. This was between Toph and Aang, it was time for friends to take their leave. Murmuring something about looking in on the children, Suki hurried past Aang, squeezing his hand in farewell before joining Katara on the path that led away from the pond.

"Wow, strategizing doesn't take as long as it used to," Toph replied, trying for flippancy and only half succeeding.

"I couldn't really tell Zuko much since all I knew was that Tyo was living with Mai in Ba Sing Se," Aang said. He sounded sad, but Toph hardened her heart against him; puppy voice wasn't going to work on her today. Maybe not ever again. "And it wouldn't do me much good to just fly off and start searching when I have no idea where to look for him."

"Him. Your son." There was challenge in Toph's voice, challenge and something more complex and less easy to identify, although Aang had his suspicions.

"My son," Aang agreed somberly. "Toph, I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you, you know that."

"Yeah, I know. But guess what, O Great Avatar. Ya did."

An uncomfortable silence came over them. Aang slid out of his sandals and sat next to her, uninvited but knowing that if he waited for one he'd be waiting until Momo learned proper eating etiquette. He dropped his feet into the water; in the darkness of the coming night, they were nearly on equal terms as far as the senses went, but the gulf between them loomed large and he knew he had to be the one to bridge it. "Will you let me tell you about it?"

"Everything?" More challenge, unambiguous this time.

"Everything," he agreed. No holding anything back, not now, even if it hurt her more.

"So. How old is Tyo, exactly?"

She didn't imagine the hesitation; so, this was the hard question, was it? She wanted to know the answer that much more. When Aang finally replied, it was in a low voice, nearly a whisper: "He's almost five."

He could practically hear her working out the math in her head, felt the extra degree of stillness that came over her as she made the connection. "So you guys got together, when? Right after Sokka's funeral?"

Aang nodded, knowing she could sense the motion, the agreement in his heartbeat and blood flow.

"After I kissed you," she said slowly. "After you already knew how I felt about you. Nice."

"Toph, I may have known how you felt about me, but I wasn't sure how I felt about you," he protested, knowing himself in the wrong for many things but not for this. "I was still all knotted up about Katara, you know that! It's not fair to blame me for something I did before we were together."

"No, just for the secrets you decided to keep afterwards."

The sleepy, inquisitive "quack?" of a turtle-duck came from the opposite bank, echoing across the water and immediately followed by a series of soft peeps as the agitated family of bird-reptiles responded to the raised voices.

Aang allowed his gaze to settle on the deeper darkness of the far bank, as if he could see the turtle-ducks if he just looked hard enough. As if seeing them would help make all this easier somehow…

"Ty Lee was terrified, Toph. Literally terrified." He groped after the right words, not to justify what he'd done, but to make Toph understand the urgency behind Ty Lee's request that he keep his fathering of Tyo a secret. "She's so cheerful, people don't think she realizes what a dark place the world can be, but she does. And all she could think about, once she realized she was pregnant and that I was the father—that the Avatar was the father—was how much danger her baby would be in."

"None of that stopped you from stepping up as Nika's father," Toph said tightly. She was sitting so still, her hands clenching and unclenching, but no other movement, and Aang knew right then how angry and hurt she truly was. Usually she was a shouter, a thrower, using her Bending powers against him if she was angry enough, knowing he could at least defend himself even if he would never do the same to her. This quietness was more unsettling, more frightening than a boulder being heaved at his head.

"Everyone knew we were together, Toph. There was never any question that I was the father of your baby." She knew that, but he felt compelled to point it out anyway. "Besides, we were together, a Master Earthbender and the Avatar, more than enough firepower between us to keep her safe." Toph said nothing, so Aang plowed on: "Ty Lee didn't want to make me feel like I had to be tied to her, and she didn't want…"

"I don't give a rat-bat's ass about any of that!" Toph exploded. The ground beneath them shuddered and settled back into place as she yanked her feet out of the water and jumped up, glaring down at him, her blind eyes catching an errant moonbeam and glittering like ice. "I don't care why Ty Lee asked you to keep it secret, I don't care if she had the best reasons in the world, I just want to know why you didn't tell me! Me!" She jerked a thumb against her chest.

"I'm sorry," Aang said in a small voice. "I should have. But she made me promise not to tell anyone, even you, and I gave my word."

Toph turned her back on him and stomped off without responding to what even Aang had to admit sounded like a weak excuse. He half-rose, then sank back down. There was no use chasing after her, the message was clear: she was done speaking to him, nothing he said would change the hurt and betrayal she was feeling, and he would have to wait for her to come to him. The earful he would get then would be worth it if only she could find some way to forgive him.

* * *

_A/N: Just wanted to say thanks for the reviews, and I promise I am working on finishing this story. I had to reread it to get my mojo going again, but now I know who the villain is (yeah, I started a story not knowing who the Big Bad was going to be!) and how he's managing his evil deeds and how it's all going to end, so it will go on past the chapters that are currently posted. Soon._


	4. Comfort

Katara was brushing her hair when Zuko entered their bedroom, shut the door behind him almost loudly enough to qualify as a slam, then plopped face first down on the bed. His wife continued brushing her hair, then turned to regard his supine form. "You don't plan to sleep like that, do you?"

"Nmph," he replied. It could have been "no" or "never" or even "yes"; it was hard to tell with his face mushed into the bedclothes.

Katara sighed and rose from the low stool in front of the dressing table, laying the brush down and allowing her robe to drop from her shoulders as she walked over to the bed and settled down next to her husband. She arranged herself carefully on her side, draping her nightgown so that one leg showed through the slit in the ankle-length midnight-blue silk. She placed a hand on her husband's back, running it teasingly from mid-shoulder to waist, then raised it and slapped him smartly on his butt.

"Hey!" Zuko flipped himself onto his side in order to glare at her. "What was that for?"

"For moping around," Katara replied, an impish grin curling the corners of her lips upward. "You're not supposed to bring the outside world into our bedroom, remember? You promised me on our wedding night."

An answering grin tugged the corners of his own lips. "I did say that, didn't I," he agreed, reaching over to pull his wife closer. She snuggled against his chest, allowing him to encircle her with his arms. He kissed the top of her head, moving one hand to caress her exposed leg…then reached up and made as if to smack her in the same spot she'd landed her own slap.

Without opening her eyes, Katara said: "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Innocently changing the movement to a loving squeeze, Zuko replied, "I wouldn't dream of it."

They lay together like that for a few blessed minutes before Katara sighed, and Zuko knew that it was time for them to bring the outside world back into their bedroom, this time by mutual consent. "Zuko, what are we going to do? Toph is so angry, a child is missing, and this is just such a mess!"

Zuko sat up, hauling a protesting Katara with him. "Hey, you started it," he reminded her.

"I know," she sighed, pulling out of his embrace and sitting cross-legged on the bed. Leaning one elbow on her knee, she plopped her hand into her chin and stared moodily at Zuko's feet. "But we really need to figure something out."

"Ty Lee and Aang told me everything they know, which doesn't amount to much," Zuko said as he, too, assumed a cross-legged position facing his wife. "I've pledged any resources they need, but until the kidnapper contacts someone, there's nothing I can do that Ty Lee and Mai and the Kyoshi warriors haven't already done."

"Searched the house, searched the city, questioned everyone they can think of in Ba Sing Se." Katara ticked off the points one by one. "Did I miss anything?"

"Set up check points on the city entrances, incoming and outgoing," Zuko added. "Now that Ty Lee knows for sure that Aang didn't take the boy—what in Agni's name possessed her to think he'd do such a thing in the first place?" he interrupted himself to ask, allowing his bewilderment to show now, in the privacy of the royal bed chamber, when he'd been forced to wear the expressionless mask of the Fire Lord all evening.

Katara considered the question. "Desperation," she decided. "She had to believe it was Aang because the alternative was so horribly unbearable." She shuddered. "Zuko, imagine if it had been Kyami…"

He took her in his arms, hauling her onto his lap and raining kisses on her face. "It wasn't Kyami, and it won't be," he promised fiercely. "Never. I've doubled the guards on the nursery, and all the children are sleeping in Kyami's room, together. Plus Suki's sleeping in there with them tonight as well."

"And Kyami's loving the sleep-over," Katara agreed with a fond smile. One of Zuko's kisses landed on her lips and she returned it eagerly.

"Which means no late-night interruptions for Mommy and Daddy," Zuko added, deepening the kiss.

Katara put everything out of her mind. Zuko wasn't being insensitive to their friends' pain; on the contrary, he was doing the best thing he could for them at the moment: clearing his mind of the entire situation in order to focus on it better in the morning.

It would do them both good, she told herself as Zuko's kisses became more insistent while he fumbled with the ties to her nightgown. Nothing could be accomplished right now anyway.

But there was more to it than that; she knew Zuko felt it, too, the need to be together, to reaffirm their love for one another, their determination to face things together. It was as much a reaction to the sudden and possibly permanent break between Toph and Aang as anything, if Katara was being totally honest.

Then Zuko's lips traveled further south on her willing form, and all thoughts of anything but the feel of his body on hers vanished into a haze of exquisite pleasure.

**oOo**

Toph didn't come to bed. Aang tossed and turned for hours before giving up on sleep entirely. He rose and donned his trousers and tunic, fumbling a bit in the dark but unwilling to turn on a light. Then he left the room and headed down the stairs to the training court that Zuko had installed for him.

With a gesture he brought the torches surrounding the large rectangular court to life and contemplated the obstacles in front of him. He leapt gracefully into the air and opened his glider to catch the night breezes, soaring in tighter and tighter circles until he landed atop a column of stone. He snapped his glider shut and took an Earthbending stance, causing the column to collapse back down into the ground, stepping off it just as it became flush with the stone blocks that made up the court's floor. He stamped his foot and raised his arms, and the basin of water on his right side erupted in a curtain of water that subsided back down with a splash.

"Can't sleep?"

Aang whirled, startled; he'd thought himself alone, hadn't bothered to check for anyone's presence before he began his Bending practice. Now that he was listening, however, he easily picked up Ty Lee's heartbeat and made his way slowly to her side.

She was sitting in the farthest corner of the courtyard, on the low stone wall that ran along three sides. Behind it was a pool of water, black and red in reflected night and firelight. Ty Lee was little more than a shadow, but when Aang made to light the rest of the torches, she shook her head. "Don't. I can see just fine." Her arms were clasped around her knees, her shoulders hunched and on impulse Aang sat next to her and put an arm around her.

"We'll find him, Ty Lee, try not to worry," he begged.

Without another word, she turned her face toward his shoulder, clutching his tunic with both hands, and began to sob.

He held her close, resting his head on hers, making soothing noises, promising over and over again that he would find their son even though he knew she wasn't hearing him.

Of course Toph chose that moment to make an appearance. He looked up, sensing another presence. "Toph," he said, making an abortive movement to push Ty Lee away and stand up. But Toph shook her head, tightly, and he sank back down onto the cold stone wall, watching helplessly as she turned and vanished into the night. Her heart had skipped a beat, her breathing had caught, and although he wanted nothing more than to go after her he knew better. If she'd been angry with him before she was furious now, and hurt beyond the ability of mere words to ease her pain.

Once again, without meaning to, he'd made things worse. Ty Lee, oblivious to the by-play between estranged lovers, continued to sob quietly, hopelessly, and he held her tighter, offering what little comfort he could to a woman whose child had been torn from her arms.

A child she had never allowed herself to acknowledge, would _never_ have acknowledged if some stranger hadn't intervened and taken that choice away from her, from them both.

Aang felt his own anger growing at the thought of anyone who could do such a thing, let alone to his own son. A son he knew not at all, hadn't seen since birth and had resigned himself to never knowing. The anger knotted together with fear for his son's life; forcing himself to face the unthinkable: what if they never got him back? What if Tyo was…

He couldn't bear to finish the thought. "We'll get him back," he whispered, a fierce promise to both Ty Lee and himself.

He had to focus on his son right now, and he knew Toph would understand once she had time to deal with her hurt and anger.

At least, that was his fervent hope.


	5. Chaos Theory

**The Next Day**

When Zuko and Katara made their way to the private family dining room the next morning, chaos reigned. They paused in the doorway to take it all in, stunned by the sheer volume of the noise everyone was making.

After a few seconds details became clearer. At the end of the table Kyami was sobbing at the top of her lungs, tugging on the edges of Toph's green silk sash with one hand and holding desperately to Nika's tiny ankle with the other. Aang stood in front of them, as he and Toph argued and ignored the children, although at least Toph was jiggling Nika up and down on her hip in a half-hearted attempt to sooth the crying girl. Nika had one fist stuffed in her mouth, the other hand clutching the collar of her mother's jacket, her sobs muffled but still audible amongst the chaos of other noise around her.

Adding to the confusion was little Sukka, normally a tranquil, easy-going child, who was close by his mother's side at the other end of the table, watching wide-eyed and wailing at Kyami's normal decibel level, rubbing a fist across his runny nose with his free hand while Suki murmured soothingly—and ineffectually—to him, appearing to be at a loss as to how to cope with everything that was going on around her, her eyes nearly as wide as her son's, expression half-exasperated, half-bewildered.

Between them all stood Ty Lee, wringing her hands in uncharacteristic dismay, her sunny features gone cloudy and threatening to storm. Her mouth was moving as she faced Toph but her words couldn't be heard over the sounds of the three crying children.

As Zuko strode into the room, prepared to add his own voice and demand an explanation, Katara motioned to the servants to leave, which the three of them did with every appearance of gratitude on their faces and presumably in their murmured words to her as they passed into the hall behind her. She couldn't hear a word of it, however, and even Zuko's shouted demand for silence went uncommented on or responded to as she closed the door behind her with a loud slam.

That managed to catch everyone's attention, even her angrier-by-the-second, no-one-ignores-the-Fire-Lord spouse. "What's wrong?" Katara asked in a normal tone of voice.

Kyami let go of Toph and Nika and ran to her mother, arms outstretched, face red and blotchy and tears still streaming from her eyes. "Aunty Toph's gonna take my baby away!" she wailed as she reached Katara's side, clutching at her mother's skirts and looking up imploringly. "Tell her she can't!"

Katara gently disengaged her daughter's small fingers and knelt by the unhappy child's side. "Honey, if Aunt Toph wants to take Nika home we can't make her stay."

"Daddy can make her, he's the Fire Lord," Kyami declared in her most imperious tones, the effect only somewhat spoiled by the hiccup at the end of her words. She turned her gaze upon her father, scowling at the adult inhabitants of the room. "Right, Daddy? Make her stay!"

Suki had knelt by her son's side as he demanded to know why Nika couldn't stay with them, pulling at his mother's hand, trying to pry her fingers loose from their grip on his other wrist. "Kimi's right!" he shrilled. "They jus' got here, they can't go 'way!"

Suki looked helplessly from Katara to Zuko to Toph, who continued to jiggle Nika on her hip, chin jutting out aggressively in an expression they all recognized as her most stubborn. Aang continued to stand in front of her, finally lowering his accusatory finger from where he'd been jabbing it toward Toph's face and looking somewhat shamefaced at his own behavior in all this.

It had started out innocently enough, with Suki helping the three children choose where they wanted to sit for breakfast. Then Ty Lee had come into the room, Aang hard on her heels, speaking to each other in low voices. When the door had slammed open behind them, they'd known it was Toph, or at least Aang had known it was her, no need for Earth-Bending or heart-beat reading to feel the agitation rolling off her in waves.

She'd walked up to the table and reached down to her daughter. "Come on, Nika, we have to get ready to go visit Mo-Mo and Poppy."

Her parents. She was planning to take Nika and go to her parents' house. "You're leaving? Right now?" Aang asked, incredulous. She might be mad at him, but she had no right to make unilateral decisions where Nika was concerned; that was how they'd agreed to manage things right from the start, from the first moment Toph told him she was pregnant.

"Yeah, right now," Toph replied through gritted teeth. "I need more space than even the Fire Nation can give me to deal with the crap you just dumped on me."

Another sign of her extreme agitation; normally she censored her acerbic tongue in front of Nika and other children.

As she'd started for the door, Aang had intercepted her, trying to remain calm and reason with her. Then Kyami and Sukka had realized what was happening, at least in broad strokes, and indicated their distress with loud cries and, in Kyami's case, desperate fingers trying to keep the inevitable from happening.

That's when the yelling between them started. No, actually it started when Ty Lee tried to apologize to Toph, to tell her she was going back to Kyoshi Island. "If she goes, we should go with her," Aang had said. _That_ was when the yelling really started.

And now it had stopped with the hard slam of a door and the angry glower of the Fire Lord. "Suki," he growled, his tone overly polite but his eyes smoldering, "would you mind bringing the children to Hoshi so she can bring them outside to play while we sort this situation out?"

Hoshi was Kyami's nanny, and Suki was grateful for an excuse to herd the children out of the room and let Zuko and Katara sort things out. Before she could do more than try and coax Kyami toward her, however, her son yanked himself away from her with a mighty pull, taking advantage of his mother's easing of attention. "No!" he shouted, stamping his foot as his arm trailed an arc from away from his mother's grasp and up over his head.

At the same time the tumbler of water sitting on the table in front of him splashed its contents out and over the rim, to settle in a glistening puddle on the floor and table near Katara's feet.

Everyone's attention instantly settled on her, but she shook her head fervently. "It wasn't me," she whispered, staring at her nephew in awe. "Sukka, honey, did you do that?"

Suddenly shy as attention focused on him, the boy crept closer to the mother he'd just tried to escape, slipping his hand back into hers as he gazed at his aunt through wide eyes.

"It's all right, sweetie, go ahead and answer Auntie Katara," Suki urged, sounding just the tiniest bit unsteady as she stooped so her head was level with that of her son. "You're not in trouble."

Sukka nodded uncertainly. "I fink so," he finally said, his voice sliding into a lisp he hadn't demonstrated in at least two years. "Sometimes the water does what I want an' sometimes it just does what it wants." He peered at his mother anxiously. "That's okay, right?"

Suki's encouraging smile turned tremulous as she blinked back sudden tears. "Of course it is, sweetie, and when things are settled down a bit we'll talk about it, but right now I need you and Kyami and Nika to come help me find Nanny Hoshi so we can go play in the garden, all right?"

His sudden fit of rebellion gone as suddenly as it had sprung up, Sukka nodded. "Okay, Mommy," he agreed.

Suki rose gracefully to her feet and held out her hand to Kyami. After looking up at her mother for permission, she ran over and took, not Suki's offered hand but Sukka's. They walked up to Toph, who hadn't witnessed Sukka's move with the water but could certainly guess what had happened by everyone's words and reactions.

She hesitated before transferring Nika to Suki's free arm. "Looks like you'll have your hands fuller than you thought," was all she said to Suki before turning her attention back to her daughter. "Go with Aunt Suki, Nika. Mommy will come get you after some play time."

She watched the four of them leave the room then turned back to face the others. Time to get back to the matter at hand. "Look, Sparky, I'm sorry if things got a little noisy this morning, but I'm still taking Nika to my parents' house," she said, belligerent in voice and expression and stance, feet planted and arms half-raised as if she expected to have to defend herself from physical attack.

"And no one's going to stop you if that's what you really want to do," Zuko agreed as he took his place at the head of the table. Katara sat next to him, and the others took the hint and joined them, Toph last of all and sitting as far away from Aang as she could. "But before you go off in a snit, think it over, that's all I'm asking."

She snorted and folded her arms across her chest. When she offered no further comment, Zuko turned his attention to Aang and Ty Lee. "Are you sure you've given me all the names of anyone who might do something like this?"

Enemies. They all had them, and it still surprised Katara at times, startled her, even; she and Zuko had managed to accomplish so much in so short a time in the name of peace that the idea of enemies wanting to do any of them harm had faded to a background concern in her mind. Especially with Azula and Ozai both dead and buried. It was so much easier to believe that the threat they represented had died with them, when the truth was that there were still those who believed in the promise of the Phoenix King and his anointed heir to the Fire Nation throne, as well as those in the Earth Kingdom and even the Southern and Northern Water Tribes who weren't exactly pleased at the current state of the world.

Ty Lee and Aang both nodded, Toph adding a curt, "No one else." At Zuko's request even Katara and Suki had handed in their own lists of possible suspects, no matter how unlikely the names might seem.

"I've already sent out agents to begin investigating the names on those lists," Zuko continued, "and sent word to my uncle to ask him to meet with Mai and conduct the investigation in Ba Sing Se himself, to go over anything the Kyoshi Warriors may have found since you left. We also sent a messenger hawk to the Earth King, to let him know what's going on, to see if he knows anything, and to get his soldiers and the city guard involved. My plan is to coordinate everything from here, rather than rushing off in all directions."

That last was directed at Toph, but it was Ty Lee who shook her head and spoke up. "You can stay here if you want, but I'm going back. I want to be with Mai in case anyone tries to get in touch with me. That's where they took my son, and if they knew Aang was his father then they knew I was his mother and would probably make their demands to either of us rather than Mai."

Zuko frowned. "I don't like the idea of you traveling on your own," he started to protest, but Ty Lee interrupted him.

"I'm a Kyoshi Warrior, you know I can take care of myself," she said in measured tones.

"Yes, but what if the kidnapper decides to go after you as well?" he countered.

"Then at least I'll be reunited with my son," she replied fiercely, then turned back to face the Fire Lord. "I've never asked you for any favors, Zuko, ever, not till now, but I'm gonna ask you to get me back home by the fastest means possible."

Ty Lee determined and serious was a rare sight, but one he suspected he'd better get used to. The gentle pressure of Katara's fingers on his hand, below sight under the edge of the table, could either be a signal for him to let their friend have her head on this or a request that he find some way to keep her safe with them, but he already knew how he would respond. "At least take some soldiers with you," was all he said.

"Take Aang." That was Toph, her lip curling as she spoke. "He wants to go with you anyway."

"Toph, please," Katara put in, but her friend shook her head angrily.

"Please, Sugar Queen, I'm not just being a bitch, I'm being an honest bitch. He's worried about his son and he won't be able to rest unless he's doing something to try and find him. So let him and Ty Lee fly off on Appa and I'll take a ship home and hang out with my parents until they drive me crazy, then maybe I'll be ready to come back here." She shrugged. "Either way, I'm going."

With that, Toph rose to her feet and exited the room, ignoring Katara's entreaties to stay until they had a better handle on the situation.

"Toph's right," Aang admitted. "If it's all right with Ty Lee, I _would_ like to go with her. Toph and Nika will be safe enough in Omashu." His eyes lit up as sudden inspiration struck. "Maybe the kidnapper was waiting for us to be together before making his demands and giving us back our son."

Ty Lee nodded her agreement, her eyes shining with gratitude and perhaps, for the first time since her precipitate arrival in the Fire Nation, with hope as well.

"Keep in touch," was all Zuko said, an order rather than a request. The "or else" implied in his voice didn't need to be spoken to be understood.

"I'm going to say good-bye to my daughter," Aang said, still looking at Ty Lee. "Get your stuff together and meet me at Appa's courtyard in an hour."

Ty Lee nodded and left, Aang hard on her heels, neither of them thinking to say their good-byes to Katara or Zuko. "What a morning," the Fire Lord muttered, rubbing the heels of his hands against his eyes as the door shut behind them.

Katara pulled his hands down and kept them clasped in hers. Her expression was full of concern as she asked: "Are you sure it's a good idea for everyone to go off in so many different directions at once?"

"I'm not sure _anything_ we do is the right way to handle this," Zuko admitted. "I've never dealt with a situation like this before; the last time a royal heir was kidnapped in the Fire Kingdom was before my grandfather's time, and it went badly for the kidnappers."

"What happened to the child?" Katara wondered.

"He was already a Firebender and the kidnappers were Earth Kingdom mercenaries who didn't know that before they snatched him from his bed. He killed them and freed himself. He was about ten, I think." Another shrug. "If anyone tried anything before or after that, it's never made its way into the official records. I don't have much precedent to go on, I'm afraid." He leaned forward and brushed a strand of dark hair away from her worried eyes. Speaking softly, he said: "Katara, please, don't worry. Toph can take care of herself and Kyami is safe here with us. No one would be crazy enough to try and kidnap the royal princess out of the palace. I've already doubled the guards," he reminded her. "If you want, I can triple them, even."

Katara shook her head and offered a tremulous smile. "What, and have them tripping over each other all day and night?" she scoffed. "Hardly the model of efficiency. No, you're right. They should be perfectly safe here with us." She sighed and passed a hand over her eyes. "What I do want," she continued after a moment, "is for everyone to be safe and I for this nightmare to be over quickly. I want our daughter safe," she added, snapping open her eyes, her voice suddenly she-bear fierce. "I want you to promise you'll do everything you can to help find Tyo and to keep our daughter safe."

"I will," he vowed as he held her close. "I will."

* * *

_A/N: I hope I'm writing the kiddies believably enough. My own are 15 and 21, respectively, so I'm less in touch with my inner toddler than I used to be (do they still watch Teletubbies, anyone?) If anyone's rereading this, yes, there's been slight tweakage to each chapter as I psyche myself up to actually adding chapter 8 sometime in the near future. Enjoy!_


	6. Domestic Investigations

**Two Days Later**

"This is most distressing news, most distressing indeed."

Iroh was pacing back and forth in the small walled garden adjoining his home in Ba Sing Se. Ursa sat on a chair opposite the tea table and watched as he frowned over the document he'd just been given. "Is it a distress you can share with me?" she finally asked when it became obvious he'd half-forgotten her presence.

That suspicion was confirmed by the start he gave at the sound of her voice, at the apologetic smile he offered as he hurried back to her side, joining her on the oversized chair and placing an arm around her shoulders. "Read for yourself," he said, handing her the scroll.

Ursa scanned the message, her expression darkening as she read what was written there. "So the Avatar is capable of keeping such an important secret from his closest friends," she murmured when she'd read it over a second time, making sure she hadn't missed any details or nuances. "I confess I never would have imagined such a thing to be possible."

"Nor I," Iroh admitted as she re-rolled the document and returned it to him. "Yet someone found out or knew all along and waited for this moment to steal the boy away." He shook his head sadly. "In spite of all the progress we make, it is still a dangerous world."

"I wonder if the child is a Bender," Ursa mused as she leaned forward and poured herself a fresh cup of tea. "Zuko doesn't say."

"No, he doesn't," Iroh agreed, sounding surprised. That question hadn't occurred to him, either, and once again he found himself amazed at Ursa's analytical acuity. Very little got by the former Fire Lady, and it was a pertinent point. "We must find out, it could impact our investigation."

Ursa raised an eyebrow. "'Our' investigation?" she asked in a teasing voice.

"But of course, you know I rely on you in all matters," Iroh replied, his expression softening into fondness. "Unless you have other pressing matters that require your attention?"

Turning serious, Ursa shook her head. "I thought at first that I should return to the palace, but I don't want Zuko thinking that I don't trust his judgment. Everything he's done so far is as I would have done it, and no doubt as you would have done it."

Ursa's brief stint as political head of the Fire Nation while her son was off fighting Ozai's rebels had increased her confidence in her abilities, but she was shrewd enough to recognize when a trusted adviser was needed…and when a mother just wanted to rush to her son's side to comfort him. He had Katara for that, and Kyami, and she might be more use here with Iroh, trying to find out as much as they could about the kidnapping as possible from Mai and any other witnesses.

Or so she told herself. In her heart of hearts, she knew that it was as much because she wanted to stay with Iroh until the dear man finally made up his mind to ask her to marry him. Convention said it was somewhat scandalous to marry your brother's widow, even years after the fact, but she'd long ago given up on worrying about convention and what other people thought of her. It was sweet of Iroh to dither over such things, but really, enough was enough. If she didn't care a fig about her reputation, then he should follow her lead and stop fretting over how their relationship might hurt her. He didn't care about his own reputation, but this over-protectiveness toward her was getting old.

Not that now was the time to be worrying about such things, of course, not with a child missing and her son's fears for his own daughter underscoring every word of the message he'd sent them. Oh, he never said it in so many words, but it was clear to her that he feared for his own child's safety. Kidnappings were rare in the Fire Kingdom, but not unheard of.

With that in mind she bent her head to the task at hand, she and Iroh discussing tactics and schedules and, most important of all, who could be trusted to take charge of the tea shop in his absence.

**oOo**

The next day they presented themselves at Mai's door. She appeared unsurprised to see them, but then, Mai generally appeared unsurprised to see anyone. Time and maturity had chipped away at her expressionless façade as she realized she no longer needed to maintain it, at least not among friends, but times of trouble tended to bring out her former "ice princess" persona.

Her "motherhood" had helped in that regard as well. Ursa always made a point to visit Mai whenever she was in Ba Sing Se, had been there shortly after Tyo's arrival and had never suspected the truth about the boy's parentage. It was only the fact that she and Iroh had been traveling on a small vacation with some friends when Tyo was kidnapped and had just returned to Ba Sing Se the morning the messenger hawk arrived that they hadn't known about the situation.

She'd even aided Mai in finding the right girl to help her with raising the baby, not quite a full nanny but someone who could be relied on to take care of an infant, someone with the experience Mai sorely lacked.

Naturally suspicion had fallen upon Shen-Shen the moment Tyo went missing. Naturally Ursa felt reluctant to believe someone she'd trusted had betrayed that trust, and she expected it was the same for Mai.

She could read nothing of Mai's feelings in that moment, and returned her mind to the moment at hand. Mai had raised Tyo almost as her own; no matter what she wasn't showing, Ursa knew she was feeling something, that her heart had to be in turmoil even if her face didn't show it. So she reached forward with a sympathetic murmur and took the younger woman's hands in her own.

Mai's face crumpled, the kindly gesture crumbling her defenses. "It's my fault, I can't believe he's gone," she said before clenching her lips shut on an obvious sob. Ignoring convention, not caring who might be gawking at them, Ursa gathered her into her arms and held her as she wept. Probably the first tears she'd allowed herself to shed since the crisis.

After a few minutes, Mai pulled herself together and lifted her head from Ursa's shoulder, offering a faint, appreciative smile before wiping her eyes and turning to usher her guests into her home. If she was embarrassed at breaking down in front of the famed Dragon of the West, she didn't show it…although she avoided his eyes as well.

Iroh took it in stride. He and Mai had never been close, not as close as she was to Zuko's mother, and he was just happy Ursa was there to help him with this situation. She was valuable as much more than just a strategic advisor. If only he could find the words to express his admiration, to let her know how he truly felt…Sternly he ordered his mind to stop mooning on what if's and get back to the moment at hand. A child was missing; now was not the time for daydreaming.

Not when there was another suspect to question, even if Mai had absolved her of all guilt. He had to hear the girl speak for himself.

When they entered the main sitting room, Shen-Shen was waiting, perched on the edge of the sofa, arms wrapped around herself, rocking slightly. She looked up as Mai and the others approached, eyes red-rimmed and swollen. They widened slightly as she recognized Lord Iroh, but then her attention was fully taken up by Lady Ursa.

"Thank the Spirits you're here!" she wailed as Ursa rushed to her side. She held the sobbing girl, patting her shoulders and murmuring soothing nonsense words in an attempt to calm her down.

She'd known Shen-Shen for years. Tyo's nanny had been barely seventeen when Ursa brought her to Mai's small house, a teenager who'd spent the bulk of her life caring for her younger brothers and sisters and was ready to make a living doing the same for others. Five years later she was twenty-two, plump, normally with a smile for everyone on her face, much like Ty Lee, now that Ursa thought about it.

At least Mai hadn't turned her out, and when things settled down a bit, she understood why. Mai blamed no one for the boy's disappearance except herself.

"Everyone started questioning Shen, but I knew it wasn't her," she said, her voice remote and emotionless when Iroh gently put the question to her, after an apologetic glance at Ursa and Shen. Ursa's heart ached to see Mai reverting to such concealment, even among those she trusted. Mai looked Ursa squarely in the eyes. "I know you wouldn't have sent me someone capable of doing anything so terrible, but Ty Lee was frantic."

"I don't blame her, really I don't," Shen-Shen broke in earnestly. "I was frantic, too, but I didn't know she was really Tyo's mother. That was such a shock, and to find out that his father is the Avatar!" Her eyes widened as if she still couldn't wrap her mind around the idea. "So when she accused me I was hurt, of course, and frightened, but Mai defended me and proved that I couldn't have done it on account of how sick I'd been."

"She had a fever and I was treating it," Mai said, taking up the narrative. "Something I'd never seen before, nor had the healer I finally called in when my own remedies weren't working. The healer gave me medicines that would keep her asleep until the fever burned itself out. Someone was with her day and night for a week, including during the time Tyo was taken."

"And Mai was frantic, we both were, simply frantic when he went out into the garden to play and just vanished!" Shen-Shen took up the narrative, squeezing Ursa's hand before letting it go and hugging her arms to her ample chest. "We've let him play there before without supervision in the past; the wall is high enough that no one can see over it and the gate latch is secure and too high for him to reach yet and besides, it was still locked when we started looking for him."

Everyone ignored her protestations about the gate being locked; they were in Ba Sing Se, the heart of the Earth Kingdom, and it would be child's play for an Earthbender to tunnel underneath it or open a hole in it in order for someone else to snatch the child. Such holes, once closed back up, showed no signs of having ever been there unless the Bender were careless or lazy, which, sadly, was not the case this time. At least, it wasn't the case if this was truly the means the abductor—or abductors—had used to steal Tyo from the yard.

Shen-Shen wound down with another sob, and Ursa was encouraged to see Mai rise from her seat to join them on the sofa, placing a comforting arm around the younger woman's shoulder. Such comfort would certainly have become second nature by now, since none of Shen-Shen's love affairs had ever ended well. The poor girl seemed incapable of falling in love with a man who didn't boast a shady past and an abrupt need to leave town without warning… "Shen-Shen, I'm sure you've already been asked this and forgive me if I'm repeating a painful question, but you weren't seeing anyone at the time, were you?"

She shook her head miserably. "No, the last time I saw my boyfriend was the week before, right before I got sick." She sighed miserably. "And I thought he was different."

Shen-Shen always thought the latest one would be different, but Ursa and Iroh exchanged concerned glances when she added: "He was studying to be a healer."

Mai looked at her, as startled as the other two. "A healer? You never told me that!"

Shen-Shen ducked her head, embarrassed. "I wanted to surprise you, to show you that I'd finally found a fellow who could hold a job and had a future, one that might actually stick around." She blushed. "He didn't want me to say anything because he was superstitious, he didn't want his career jinxed so he swore me to secrecy." She sighed again. "He was leaving to study under a healer in a different part of town for a few days and said he'd be back but then I got sick, and then Tyo went missing and I kind of forgot about him and when I finally remembered, well, by then I figured out Ikeh wasn't coming back. Just like the rest of them."

Gradually it dawned on Shen-Shen that everyone was staring at her. "What?" she asked.

Mai shook her head. "You didn't tell us any of this, Shen," she said, her voice gentle but her eyes hardening into obsidian flints. "You didn't tell us you knew why he left this time, you didn't tell us you expected him to come back, and you didn't tell us he was a healer, all because he asked you not to." Shen-Shen nodded uncertainly. "And it didn't occur to you," Mai continued, her voice rising slightly, "that perhaps we needed to know these things when Tyo went missing?"

Shen-Shen shook her head and stammered: "No, I didn't…I-I mean, he was already g-gone and then I was so sick, I didn't realize it was important." Her eyes flooded with tears. "I'm sorry, I didn't think it had anything to do with Tyo, honest!"

Ursa was at her side even as Mai rose to her feet and began pacing in an agitated manner totally at odds with her normal self-restraint, while the former Fire Lady comforted the now-wailing young nanny. "Lord Iroh," she said, raising her voice to be heard over the sounds of Shen-Shen's distress, "could you please…"

He had risen to his feet and nodded before she finished her request. The young would-be healer would need to be found, and his part in this kidnapping discovered, if any. It could simply be a coincidence, a result of Shen-Shen's chronically bad taste in men, but none of them believed that. The timing of Shen-Shen's illness was certainly suspect, if nothing else.

While Ursa coaxed details of Shen-Shen's young man out of the sobbing girl, Iroh and Mai left the house, headed by unspoken agreement to the healer's compound that Ikeh had supposedly been affiliated with.

**oOo**

Iroh and Mai returned to the house a few hours later, in possession of not much more information than they had when they left. At least he truly had been a student there; he could very easily have been lying about everything to Shen-Shen. It even appeared that Ikeh was his real name, although nothing more was known about him than that; he'd claimed to have a private sponsor paying for his education rather than family or scholarship money, and there were no records of who that sponsor might have been.

As Iroh put it: "The young man was very careful to keep his attention on his studies and tell no one where he was going when he abruptly left the school. I doubt he's still in Ba Sing Se."

"A good thing, too; it's been a long time since I felt like stabbing someone," Mai added, causing Shen-Shen to once more burst into tears. Lady Ursa glared at Mai over the sobbing girl's shoulder as she patted her and tried to calm her down once again. "Perhaps Shen-Shen should visit with friends for a few days," she suggested. "Why don't you pack a few things and stay with those girls you were just telling me about. The ones across town."

Snuffling and wiping away tears, Shen-Shen hurried away, avoiding Mai's cold eyes as she headed to her own room. "Mai, it isn't the girl's fault, she's young…" Lady Ursa began.

"When I was her age, no, when I was younger than her, I was helping Azula track down Zuko and the Avatar," Mai replied, and her flat tone brooked no argument. Ursa closed her mouth and turned to Iroh instead.

He offered her a comforting smile, putting out his hand to pull her to her feet. "We've found out all we can from the healing school," he said. "The next step will be…"

"The next step will be to trace his movements, find his friends, his haunts, where he was living and who he might have boasted to about earning easy money by lying to a naïve young girl," Mai said flatly. "Don't worry. I'll track the bastard down, find out who was paying him and beat a confession out of him if I have to." Her lips curled up in a slight smile, as if she were looking forward to that moment. Which, Iroh admitted, she probably was. As, he also admitted, was he.

Mai was still speaking; Iroh returned his attention to her. "I can do that best on my own, if you don't mind."

It was a dismissal, and not a very polite one, but neither Iroh nor Ursa took offense. Mai had been very close to Tyo, closer even than his own mother, and now they all understood why she'd taken on that role so willingly. Ty Lee was her closest friend left alive, and her obligation to Tyo went far beyond that of adoptive parent. "We'll be off, then," Iroh said with a low bow. "Contact us if we can be of any further assistance."

"You might consider going back to the Fire Nation."

Iroh paused in mid-turn. "Why?" he asked sharply.

"Because something tells me this isn't over," was Mai's reply. "Call it instinct if you like, but I don't think Tyo's the only child in danger here."

She wouldn't or couldn't elaborate further, and so they took their leave of her, Ursa fretting over the situation the entire way back to Iroh's tea house. "What if Mai's right? If they're after the Avatar's children, then Toph and Nika could be in trouble, but if it goes further than that, even, then Kyami…" The words seemed to stick in her throat, and Iroh patted her hand comfortingly.

"Kyami is in the palace of the Fire Lord," he reminded her. "The safest place she could possibly be. She has a Master Waterbender as a mother and the Fire Lord himself for a father. What danger could she possibly be in with them watching her?" But he wasn't convincing himself, let alone her.

She turned to him as they reached the gate to the back garden. "Iroh," she said, clutching a fold of his tunic in one hand and raising beseeching eyes to meet his. "I want to go home. Please come with me."

He nodded. "Of course. I'll make the arrangements. We'll leave within the next few days."


	7. Taken

**Somewhere at Sea**

Toph felt sun on her face, the feeling of something solid but still moving beneath her body… where was she? The deck of a ship, she remembered as the fuzziness in her head started to subside, even if the ache didn't. The ship that was taking her and Nika back home, to her parents, to Gaoling. But why, she wondered dizzily, was she lying down on such a hard surface? Sure, the bunks weren't that soft, but there was no way she'd be feeling sunlight on her face if she was in the small cabin she and Nika shared with another young woman traveling alone with her own child. A boy, Toph remembered as she started to heave herself upright. What was his name? Yani, that was it. Yani…

Firm hands on her shoulders urged her back down. "Please, Lady Toph, don't try to sit up just yet. You've been injured."

Injured, she thought hazily. That explained why her head ached so much, why she was having such a hard time gathering her thoughts. Nika would be worried if Mommy didn't get up, though, and she struggled to explain that to whoever was keeping her from moving.

Apparently she was doing a bad job of it, or else they were just ignoring her. Finally she managed to grab a fold of cloth and yank the man down to her. "Bring me my daughter," she ordered him through clenched teeth. "She's going to start howling soon if she isn't allowed to be with Mommy."

Her cabin-mate had been watching the two children, Toph remembered that much, just for a minute while Toph went above deck to bring back some lunch. Yani had been fretful, feverish, and his mother—what was her name?—had been happy to accept Toph's offer to bring food and drink back for them all…

"Lady Toph, please," the male voice tried to urge her back, but she refused this time, pushing him aside and sitting upright in spite of the explosion of pain behind her useless eyes. "You need to recover…"

"Where's my daughter?" she shouted, bending the metal in his belt so it dug painfully into his sides. He yelped and backed off. She recognized his voice now as that of the ship's physician, Dr. Tao. "Where is she?" she repeated with growing urgency. Surely Minya, that was Yani's mother's name, she remembered now, surely she'd have wondered what was taking Toph so long…

"She's gone," another voice replied. It was the captain this time, Yu Li. She heard his approaching footsteps slow and sensed that he was squatting next to her. "Lady Minya and both children are missing. We're searching the ship; when one of the sailors found you unconscious and bleeding, I sent for her to make sure she was all right. No one's seen her or the children since finding you." His voice turned reassuring. "But I promise you, Lady Toph, they _will_ be found."

The sound of hurrying feet approaching distracted Toph from her mounting fear, and she listened carefully to the words whispered into the captain's ear, never mind that they were obviously trying not to let her overhear: "One of the life boats is missing, and several crates of supplies that were stored nearby."

Toph leaned her head on her raised knees. A keening noise distracted her; who was making that harsh wailing sound? It was herself, she realized after a moment. She'd done this, she'd gone off from the palace in a huff and exposed her daughter to danger. Of course if someone wanted to punish Aang they'd take not only his unacknowledged son but his daughter as well, and she'd played right into their hands. What a fool she was, thinking the ship would be safe, that her parents' private coach would whisk her and Nika safely to the Ba Feng house in Gaoling…

She forced herself to stop, to stop blaming herself, to stop that damned wailing, to _focus_, dammit. With dry eyes she forced herself fully upright, allowing the captain to take her arm and steady her only because she didn't want to waste time fighting him. "What's the nearest landfall?" she asked. "They'll have made their way there, right?"

"Unless they were met by another vessel," the captain pointed out, keeping his voice gentle, soothing. Toph scowled; she wasn't some fragile flower, she'd just had a temporary breakdown, she was back in control now and didn't require delicate treatment. Of course, pointing out options wasn't exactly telling her everything would be all right, and she felt a grudging respect that the Captain wasn't just trying to shush her with false hopes. "We'll send messages on ahead and get the coastal patrols out looking for them right away." He squeezed her arm reassuringly. "Don't worry, we'll find them."

Toph almost snapped at him: "No you won't," but managed to keep her thoughts to herself.

When the doctor insisted she spend the rest of the day in the medical bay so he could keep an eye on her injury, she didn't argue. And when they entered the room, she could tell by his sudden intake of breath that something was wrong. "What is it?" she demanded.

"There's a scroll," he said in a strangled voice. "Pinned to the wall by a dagger."

"Read it," Toph ordered, and he led her to a chair before crossing the room and removing the missive.

"I should report this to the captain first," he said uncertainly, and Toph turned her sightless glare on him, one foot tapping impatiently against the wooden deck. The rustle of paper told her he was obeying her, and she leaned forward, determined to hear every word.

"_The Avatar's son wanted to meet his sister. They'll be together soon. And afterwards perhaps some other playmates will join them."_

Kyami and Sukka, that's who the note had to be referring to. "Make a copy of this and get it to the Fire Lord at once," Toph snapped, her head whirling. She ignored the pulsing headache as best she could. "The playmates the note refers to are Princess Kyami and her cousin, Sukka, I'm sure of it. Zuko and Katara and Suki have to be warned."

She jumped up from her seat, ready to snatch the message out of the doctor's hands and get it to the captain herself when she swayed and would have fallen if he hadn't caught her. She held tightly to his arm as he lifted her up and deposited her gently on the medical bay's bunk. "Please," she whispered as tears glimmered on her eyelids. "Don't let them take any more children."

Then darkness overcame her, and she knew no more.

**The Fire Nation**

Katara looked up from the dress she was embroidering. Sewing was a hard-won skill, and the delicate art of embroidery even harder won, but she had insisted on learning and her Wardrobe Mistress, Zulina, had eventually consented to teach her. Now, after four painstaking years of trial and error, she could create the most delicate patterns with something approaching ease.

She was embroidering a bright pattern of flowers along the hem of one of Kyami's favorite sun dresses, a light green thing that had seen better days but that her daughter refused to give up. An extra length of material had already been added to the hem and the shoulder straps lengthened as well. Fortunately it was an a-line garment, simple, loose and comfortable, easy to adapt to her daughter's growing body.

It was also a gift from Aunty Toph, whom Kyami normally adored, although at the moment she was still angry with her for taking Nika away.

The door to the room had opened and Suki was standing there, her broad smile faltering as her gaze wandered around the small sewing room. "Where are they? Hiding?"

"Who? Who's hiding?" Katara asked with a confused frown. Her eyes widened as she realized what her sister-in-law must be asking and she rose to her feet, the dress falling to the floor, forgotten. "Do you mean the children? Aren't they with you?"

"Hoshi said you wanted to take them to the garden," was Suki's distracted answer. She was already turning around in the doorway with Katara right behind her.

"When? When did she take them?" Katara's mind was working at top speed, although her body felt as if it had been encased in ice. This couldn't be happening, not Kyomi's nanny; the girl had been with them since the night the princess was born, the daughter of a trusted housekeeper, personally vouched for by Iroh and one who had always seemed to adore her young charge.

Suki glanced over her shoulder, white-faced. "About an hour ago. I decided to join you in the garden since it was such a beautiful day, only you weren't there."

Neither, her voice implied, were the children and Hoshi. Katara doubled her speed, racing recklessly through the halls of the palace with Suki now pacing alongside her, each with the unspoken fear in her mind that the same person who had taken the Avatar's son had taken their children as well.

A fear that all-too-quickly turned out to be correct.

Kyami, Sukka and Hoshi were nowhere to be found.


	8. Guilt, Tears & Self Recrimination

_A/N: Here it is at last, the long (long long long long long) awaited Next Chapter of "After The Happily Ever After! Not a dream sequence, but the real thing. Sorry guys, things kind of stalled but now they've been kick-started. If you missed my note, I'd recommend rereading at least the end of the previous chapter since I added a bit that is extremely pertinent to the happenings in this tear-soaked chapter. Please remember to R&R if you're still reading!_

* * *

**Interlude With The Bad Guy**

"My Daddy's gonna be real mad at you!"

Kyami's face was tear-streaked, her eyes swollen and red, but her glare could match anything her father could muster. Her kidnapper admired her for her defiance even as it grated on his nerves.

"Shut her up," he growled, and one of his accomplices, the nanny Hoshi, glided forward immediately, taking the struggling toddler into her arms and trying to soothe her.

"Hush, little dove, the Lord is only doing this to help us," she murmured.

"He's a bad man," Kyami pronounced as fresh tears flooded her eyes. "He made Sukka take a nap, an' Sukka hates naps!" She looked at her cousin, who was, indeed, lying on a make-shift bed on the floor of the dark room in which the four children had been placed, apparently asleep.

Apparently, of course, was the key word. The kidnapper allowed a satisfied grin to stretch his lips. Once the cursed brat had been discovered to be a Waterbender, he'd had to be forced into sleep, just like the Avatar's boy. It was too dangerous to allow them to remain conscious for more than a few minutes at a time, just long enough to feed them and allow them to use the toilet. Hoshi and the other accomplices bathed the two small boys with silent efficiency when necessary, did their best with the princess-brat and the whimpering almost-walker, and he only put in appearances as necessary.

Like today. In order to fully maintain control, he needed to periodically take his lovely accomplices aside and remind them of where their current loyalties lay. Too bad he couldn't do the same for the kiddies; still, having to endure them for a few minutes at a time wasn't too much of a sacrifice to make.

Not when his plan was working so beautifully.

He had the head of the Fire Nation, the Avatar, and the rest in the palm of his hand, and all because they'd been foolish enough to bring hostages into the world.

Discovering that Mai's "cousin" was actually the Avatar's son by the whore Ty Lee had given him his first glimmering of a plan, allowing him to finally implement his revenge after so many years. Years of exile, of deprivation, of feverish planning, all finally brought to delicious fruit.

Now that he had all his pawns under one prison roof, it was time to start making demands of their parents.

**The Fire Nation**

The door to the bedroom flew open. "Katara!"

It was Zuko, thank the Spirits, he was back! Katara flew up from the haphazard pile of cushions she'd been huddled on near the window, throwing herself into her husband's arms.

Several minutes and one soaked shoulder later, Katara managed to get control of herself. "I'm so sorry, Zuko," she hiccoughed as she clutched his sleeves, unable to meet his eyes. "I thought they were f-fine, I thought th-they were with H-hoshi and S-suki…" Suki, who'd refused any comfort, had closed herself in one of the palace's interior training rooms and was furiously destroying as much of it as possible with her war fan. Katara felt an extra load of guilt for not being able to protect her nephew, her brother's only child.

"Shh, hush, it's not your fault," Zuko said soothingly. He kissed the top of his wife's head before gently putting his fingers under her chin and inexorably forcing her to look at him. His heart ached to see those beautiful blue eyes swimming with an equal mixture of tears and guilt. "It's not," he insisted, aching to at least relieve her of that much of her burden. "It's mine."

His wife's eyes widened incredulously. "Zuko, of course it isn't your fault! You weren't even here!"

He turned away from her, slamming one fist against the nearest solid surface, the bedpost. "I should have been!" he exploded, his own guilt boiling up and overflowing. "I should have been here, with you two, not off trying to—to—micromanage the palace guards!"

Then it was his wife's turn to try and soothe him, to calm him down from the temper he'd worked himself into. Both his fury and her tears came from the same wellspring of guilt; they'd failed to keep their daughter safe, they'd failed to keep their nephew safe in the one place that should have been impossible for anyone to infiltrate.

They'd failed, and for the moment, that failure was all they could think of.

**oOo**

She'd failed. Bitterness welled up inside Toph's soul, bringing the foul taste of bile to the back of her throat. She'd done the stupidest thing possible, gone running off with Nika, alone, instead of just throwing her tantrum inside the extensive walls of the Fire Nation palace. Now her daughter was paying the price. Where was she, what were the monsters who'd taken her doing…

She cut off that line of thought with a sharp intake of breath. No, better by far not to go there. Better by far to wait until the stupid boat made landfall. She'd feel better once she had solid ground beneath her feet. Of course, that would only last as long as it took her to book passage on the very next ship going back to the Fire Nation capital, but it would help.

Whatever the kidnappers wanted, now that they had both of Aang's children they were bound to make contact. It was obvious, once she'd forced herself to think about it logically, that that was why they hadn't made any demands; taking Tyo had been a first step, taking Nika the final part of some complicated plan to extract something from Aang.

Extract what, exactly? Toph didn't know, didn't care, and knew she never would unless it directly involved her daughter. As long as she got Nika back, safe and sound, Aang would just have to deal with the fallout. That was what he did best; why else be the Avatar if you couldn't handle emergencies on a daily basis?

She knew she was being unfair, but she was still angry at him for not telling her he had a son, and the pain and grief she felt for her missing daughter kept trying to overwhelm her, to drown her like this cursed ocean she was traveling over.

"Miss Be Fong?"

She turned her face toward that respectful voice. The doctor, of course. Who else? "Yeah?" she asked, not bothering to swing her feet over the side of the bunk. She couldn't sense anything even if her feet made contact with the wooden flooring or decking or whatever it was called.

"We've arrived."

That brought her to her feet in a hurry. She was still a little light-headed from the blow she'd taken to the back of her head, but it faded as she moved toward the door as quickly as she could manage. She allowed the doctor to grasp her arm to help her up to the main deck. The captain had given his word that he'd double his speed in order to get them to shore as quickly as possible, and his word had proven to be worth its weight in gold.

When they reached the main deck, the doctor handed her off to the first mate with a hurried admonishment to her to take it easy for a few more days. She dismissed him with a curt nod of thanks, then demanded to know where her few belongings were.

"Captain's orders, they're to be offloaded first," the first mate replied soothingly. "And you'll be the first passenger off as well."

Toph tossed her head. As if she needed to be coddled. Hmph. Well, not once they were on solid ground, at least. She suffered his guiding arm to the side of the ship, where she parked herself and waited impatiently for the boat to finish docking.

The first mate stuck with her like glue, in spite of the fact that he must have a gazillion things to do. Probably making sure she didn't throw herself overboard and try to swim to shore, she decided grumpily, when something he'd said finally penetrated her impatience and worry. She turned her face toward his and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, yanking his head down so it was even with hers. "What did you just say?" she demanded, hoping she'd misheard him.

"Um, the captain sent a messenger hawk on ahead to your family. Your parents are expected to meet us…"

She let him go and shoved him away irritably. Great, just what she needed, her parents fussing and crying over her. They'd use this as an excuse to try and whisk her away to the family estates, probably try and force her to let Aang handle this on his own…well, no way. Her chin jutted out in a gesture any of her friends would have recognized as her most stubborn expression. She wasn't going to be coddled and petted (_and kept safe, why should she be safe when Nika…_) while her daughter was missing. No way.

The couple that met her on the docks, however, wasn't her parents; it was Lord Iroh and Lady Ursa. She almost wept upon hearing that they'd delayed their own return at her mother's request when they'd met each other at an inn a day earlier.

Even better, they already had a fast courier vessel waiting for her arrival. "The journey will be rough," Iroh warned her as he took charge of her luggage and led her and Ursa to the nearby berth. "These vessels are built for speed, not luxury."

"Whatever, just get me to the damned boat and let's get back to the Fire Nation," Toph groused, but that was just the anxiety speaking. Ursa and Iroh had offered her their sincerest sympathies and assured her that they had agents who would investigate matters on this side of ocean. However, they agreed with her that the place to wait for word from the kidnappers was back at the palace.

**oOo**

They were almost half-way there when a messenger hawk arrived bearing more bad news.

"Not Sukka and Kyami!" Ursa moaned when Iroh grimly read the message's contents to the two women. He'd debated whether or not to wait and tell them when they were closer, but they knew of the hawk's arrival and would have given him no peace until they heard what message he bore.

He held Ursa as she wept into his shoulder while Toph quietly removed herself from the small stateroom she and the older woman shared. It had been vacated by the first mate and communication's officer, who, along with Iroh, were bunking with the rest of the sailors belowdecks. He heard her making her careful way down the cramped passageway, listened as the door to the main deck opened and shut, then returned his attention to trying his best to comfort the bereaved grandmother in his arms.

And if her hair was dampened by a tear or two, neither one of them felt compelled to comment on it when Ursa managed to get herself back under control.


	9. Taking Action

**One Week Later**

The section of the Fire Nation palace that housed the royal family was eerily silent. Even the servants who had business in that section seemed to be doing their best to be more than just unobtrusive; they were downright invisible at times, and so silent that to come upon one doing their work inevitably startled Katara, the few times she crossed their paths.

Otherwise that part of the palace seemed occupied only by ghosts. Ghosts and memories.

She and Zuko avoided it as much as possible without ever saying that they were doing so.

In the week since the children had vanished, there had been no clues, no communication from the kidnappers, no sign of them anywhere.

It was if they'd vanished into thin air.

Even the arrival of Iroh and Ursa, Toph in tow, hadn't relieved the mood at all, and why should it? The three of them were aching with the loss of the children just as much as she and Zuko were. Nika was the center of Toph's entire universe these days, just as Kyami was the center of hers. And to lose Sokka's only son at the same time…

Katara hurried away from the empty nursery. She'd been just standing in the doorway for Spirit's knew how long, staring at nothing. She couldn't continue on like this; they needed to do something, anything, besides wait for a ransom note that seemed less and less likely to show up.

And if the children weren't being held for ransom…she shuddered and forced herself not to think of the endless, horrible possibilities that wanted to paint themselves onto her consciousness, blind her to the outside world and the possibility of hope.

She refused to allow despair to take up residence in her heart, and at the very least she could make sure the same was true of the others.

If only Aang and Ty Lee would get back, maybe they could all put their heads together and figure something out. But the two of them had flown off on Appa after only a few days in Ba Sing Se, when it became painfully apparent that they weren't going to be contacted there, either. They'd taken Mai with them, the three of them following a lead on Shen-Shen's missing boyfriend, who'd apparently been spotted near Gaoling, miles and miles from where he'd supposedly been all this time.

Katara had to fight down a sudden stab of jealousy; at least the three of them had something solid to go on, a person to search for, clues to hunt down and eventually throttle the truth out of. Zuko had soldiers helping, the Earth King had soldiers helping…but she, Katara, was stuck here in the palace being the Fire Lady when everything inside her screamed at her to be out there as well, doing something to find her daughter and the other children.

It was as frustrating as it was terrifying, and she could only pray that something happened soon, something to lead them in the right direction. Or she might just snap.

The sound of someone gently clearing their throat caught her attention, and she turned from the window she'd been staring blindly out of to see Iroh standing near the door. "May I come in?"

Katara stood up so abruptly she felt dizzy. "What is it? Have you heard something? Is there news?"

But his sorrowful shake of the head answered her before he spoke. "Alas, only of the negative kind, I fear. The Avatar and Mai have arrived here at the palace. They have discovered the body of the young man who we believe aided in Tyo's abduction."

The body. He was dead. "How?" Katara demanded, or tried to. Hard to sound imperious when your throat was clogged with tears.

In just a few steps Iroh had crossed the room and seated himself by her side on the wide window ledge, his arm finding its way around her shoulders and squeezing gently, comfortingly. "Killed. Shot by an assassin's arrow days after her vanished, it would appear, the body concealed in the floor of the house in which he was hiding."

_In_ the floor, rather than under it. So an Earthbender had been involved, just as they'd suspected.

Big deal, if they didn't know who the Earthbender was.

Katara felt her shoulders slumping in disappointment. "Anything more?"

She felt her shoulders slumping further as Iroh offered up another disappointing shake of the head. "I'm sorry, but nothing from that lead. No way to discover who his mentor was or who he was working for. But," he added with a comforting press of his hand on hers, "Aang and the others are not giving up, not yet. They've returned to Ba Sing Se in the hopes of finding someone who knew Ikeh well enough to possibly have seen this mentor of his."

As if. They'd already questions Ikeh's neighbors and teachers and doctors he'd worked with, his fellow classmates and even the servants who maintained the school. If a clue hadn't been unearthed then, it wasn't likely to be now.

All their searching and hunting had turned up was a dead end, with a dead body thrown in for good measure. Katara shuddered; whoever their foe was, he, or she, or they—whoever they were, they'd just gone from "kidnapper" to "murderer." A killer was holding their children, for whatever reason.

Instead of driving her deeper into despair, however, the news brought on a sharp flush of anger. Anger Katara welcomed, because it helped clear her mind, sharpen her thoughts. She straightened her shoulders and met Iroh's startled gaze. Clearly he'd expected her to burst into tears at the bad news, but she'd already cried an ocean over this situation.

No more. "Find Zuko," she ordered him as she rose to her feet, hands automatically brushing down her crumpled skirts and reaching to tidy her hair. "Have him meet us in the War Room. Ask Lady Ursa and Toph to join us, and Suki. We have to stop moping around on our own and start really pooling our resources, even if all those resources amount to is our minds." A grim smile startled Iroh further. "Our minds, the Fire Nation treasury and army and navy…whatever it takes, we need to stop reacting and find something positive to do."

As Iroh hurried out of the room, she thought she heard an approving chuckle escape his lips, but paid no attention.

Like she'd told him, it was time to stop reacting and find something positive to do. And she'd say the same to Aang and his travelling companions as soon as they arrived.

**oOo**

As if they'd been summoned by her thoughts, Ty Lee, Aang and Mai showed up in the War Room the next day, only minutes after the others reached it from wherever they'd scattered to during the day.

Katara had insisted on making a schedule; they were to meet in the War Room at the same time every day until the crisis passed, right after lunch. And show up all together, as a group, unless assignments were handed out, which she was determined was going to happen before another week passed, contact from the kidnappers or no contact.

She'd become very militant in her attitude since Iroh had given her the bad news about Ikeh's death, which her husband had pointed out admiringly after their first meeting concluded with nothing much being done except going over the few facts they possessed.

Their lovemaking that night had been fierce, but not because they were trying to forget their troubles, drown their thoughts in physical activity, but because of the new determination Katara was feeling, a determination she'd managed to impart to the others in spite of their own slumping spirits.

"You make one helluva Fire Lady," Zuko had told her afterwards, as they lay entangled in one another's arms. "Those kidnappers better watch out; when we find them, I might just turn them over to you for punishment instead of the royal courts."

He'd only been half-joking; Katara could tell by the way he eyed her, speculatively, as if he was just now realizing what kind of a woman he'd married five years ago. Or as if he was rediscovering that woman.

Katara kind of felt that way herself. Peace between the nations had brought peace to her own spirit, and motherhood had mellowed her even more. But the kidnappers had awakened the panther-lioness within her, and she had no intention of letting that part of her return to sleeping for a long, long time.

That much she made clear when Aang and the two women entered the War Room. Everyone looked up, except Toph, who didn't even bother turning around since she'd clearly heard them coming before the door even opened. Probably even knew who they were, Katara thought fleetingly before barking out a question as Mai's silken robes were still whispering against the wooden door: "Well? Anything?"

Aang looked startled, as did Ty Lee, but Mai had long since retreated behind her emotionless mask and even Katara's uncharacteristic greeting did nothing to dislodge it. "Uh, no, nothing," Aang finally stammered out. "What about…"

"Nothing," Katara replied from her place at the head of the table, on Zuko's immediate right. The two of them sat side-by-side, an indication of her status as not just Fire Lady in name but co-ruler of the Fire Nation, as Zuko had made clear from the moment of her coronation. Suki and Toph were sitting next to each other on one side, Iroh by himself on the other, and the newcomers quickly found places. Mai sat unconcernedly next to Toph, but Aang and Ty Lee opted to join Iroh.

Clearly things were still tense between Toph and Aang, since they'd had literally no time since all this started to sort out their relationship problems, but Katara was determined to have a little talk with both of them after the meeting was over. The strain between them was personal, sure, but it could cause problems in the hunt for the children, and she wasn't going to allow anything to get in the way of finding them and bringing them home.

And if it took banging their heads together, then so be it. Sokka would be proud.

Sokka…the thought of her dead brother brought a pang to her heart, the way it always did, but behind the pain and grief something else was stirring in her mind. Something about Sokka, but what?

She shook her head. No, now wasn't the time to bring up her brother's ghost; she needed to focus on the living or else she'd find herself drowning in that ocean of tears again.

Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something about Sokka, something important, maybe even something relevant to their current situation, but she couldn't figure out what it might be, how Sokka could possibly help them…

…and then it came to her.

While she'd been lost in thought, the others had been listening to Aang while he described the measure they'd taken to try and find out who Ikeh's mentor had been. Without bothering to apologize or so much as clear her throat to get the others' attention, Katara interrupted. "Aang! How hard is it to contact someone in the Spirit World?"

* * *

_A/N: I'm baaaack! Miss me? Me too! Many thanks to tvrox23 for inspiring the upcoming chapter! You want a drabble, tvrox23, just ask! Thanks! And thanks to everyone for their unbelievable patience with me on this story. Especially since I've written other stuff while this sort of languished in the back of my mind._


	10. Talking Dead

**oOo**

Stunned silence met Katara's question. Then Aang, his voice hesitant, asked: "Katara, are you asking me to try and find Shen-Shen's dead boyfriend?"

She shook her head impatiently. "No, not him. Why would he tell us anything?"

"Because he was murdered and might want vengeance or justice?" Toph suggested with her usual sarcasm. "Because he might want absolution? Because he—"

"Fine, I get it," Katara snapped. "He wasn't who I was thinking of, but maybe he would help us. If you can find him," she added, turning back to Aang. "Well? Can you find an individual spirit that isn't one of the Avatars? Or would _they_ help you?"

Aang shook his head. "No. I tried meditating and seeing if I could speak to some of my predecessors, but they refuse to help." A couple of them had chided him for misusing his Avatar powers in such a way, but he had to be a father first in this situation. Even the Avatars who had been parents themselves refused to help him, although he kept his fury at that refusal to himself. Anger wouldn't bring his son and daughter or the other children back.

Katara was clearly about to demand answers as to why the others wouldn't help; he raised a hand to forestall her. "That doesn't mean I can't try to reach Ikeh. His spirit is relatively new, he might still be lingering where I can reach him."

She nodded, although there was clearly something else on her mind, at least to Zuko's eyes. But she bit her lip and said nothing more.

He decided to talk to her in private and took it upon himself to end the meeting. "Aang, if you find anything out, let us know, right?" he said, and the Avatar nodded.

"Even if it's no news, don't put off telling us," the Fire Lord added, receiving another silent nod in response. Aang's face was sober but determined; clearly he wasn't entirely easy in his mind about seeking out the Spirit Realm in search of a possibly vengeful Spirit, but equally clearly he wasn't going to allow anything to stand in the way of finding the children.

As they all rose to disperse, Aang approached Toph. He caught one of her hands in his and said softly, "I'll find her. I'll find them all. I promise."

She made no response, but Zuko saw that she squeezed Aang's hand before letting go and stomping out of the room.

Aang sighed and watched her go, then turned back to catch Zuko's eye. "I'll be in the Meditation Garden," he said. "Would one of you mind keeping me company? I might need someone to shake me back to reality if I stay too long."

"I'll do it," Suki volunteered before anyone else could speak. "It'll give me something to do." She let loose a brittle laugh. "If I sharpen my fans any more the blades will break off."

Aang nodded his acceptance of her offer, and Katara gave Suki a fierce hug before the two of them left the room together.

That left Katara, Zuko, Lord Iroh and Lady Ursa. The older couple murmured their excuses, offered Katara hugs of their own, then vanished.

"What were you really asking Aang to do?" Zuko asked once they were alone.

Katara had half-turned toward the door, ready to leave as well, but stopped at her husband's question. "To find answers in the Spirit Realm," she replied, but he knew her well enough to recognize an evasion when he heard one.

Zuko took the few steps necessary to bring himself to his wife's side, then the single step necessary to stand directly in front of her. She wasn't quite meeting his eyes; with a sigh, he wrapped his arms around her and pressed a kiss to her lips. When he pulled back, his expression remained serious. "Tell me," he said softly.

Katara looked away from him, then finally tilted her head and looked directly at him. "I thought…since his son is missing too…that maybe…"

"Sokka," Zuko said as he finally got it. "You wanted Aang to contact Sokka. So why not say so?"

He felt her shrug as she leaned into his embrace. "I don't know. I know Ikeh is our best bet, and I felt silly for not thinking of him first. But Sokka's been on my mind lately, and I just…thought he could help."

"And you miss him," Zuko said. She nodded but didn't pull away from him, leaving her head buried in his chest. "It's OK, Katara, we all miss him."

"I chickened out," she said, her voice muffled but still clearly ashamed. "I didn't want to get Suki upset. I mean," she added, finally pulling her head up to look at him again, "I know she thinks about him all the time and misses him just as much as I do, but once Aang mentioned Ikeh I realized he was the one we should be talking to. That maybe I was just being selfish, and Suki didn't need to have bad memories dredged up right now."

Zuko kissed her again, a lingering, loving kiss that brought a smile to her face after he pulled away. "You're probably right," he agreed. "But," he added with a cautioning frown, "if Aang can't find anything out from Ikeh, it might be a good idea to talk to him about contacting Sokka instead. You're right; he's Sukka's father and Kyami's uncle and I know he would help us if he could."

They walked out of the room arm in arm, both feeling a faint sense of hope for the first time in too long.

It was all up to Aang, but they had faith.

He would find them the answers they'd been so desperately seeking.

**oOo**

Aang settled onto his knees, hands clasped loosely in his lap, and closed his eyes. He was kneeling on the ground in the Meditation Garden, Suki seated on a nearby stone bench. He could feel her eyes on him and the nervous beat of her heart, just as he could feel the heat of the sun on his skin and the coolness of the soil beneath his body.

All senses needed to be weaned away from the outside world and focused fully on the interior. As he went through the mental exercises needed to bring him to the state of mind needed to reach the Spirit Realm, all such exterior concerns gradually fell away; he was no longer hot, no longer aware of anything outside of his own measured breaths—in, out, in, out, each breath and pause slowly but surely increasing in length until even they became unnoticed.

Aang opened his eyes. Instead of the trees and flower beds of the Meditation Garden, he saw a vast nothingness and knew he'd succeeded…

_He was standing in the middle of nothing. There was no sense of hot or cold, no breeze but no sense of stillness either. No light, no darkness; no soft curves, no hard edges. Just this gray nothingness. _

_Gradually his senses became accustomed to the Spirit Realm and details began to make themselves known. The grayness faded to reveal the appearance of a cloudy sky, an endless grassy plain, the feeling of his feet on the ground because now he was standing rather than kneeling._

_He looked around, seeing nothing but the sky and the grassy plain, and reached out with his senses to find any nearby Spirits to guide him to the one he sought._

_"Aang! Good to see ya, buddy!"_

_The Avatar turned, stunned. He'd never expected to hear that voice ever again, but his eyes confirmed the proof his ears had offered. Sokka stood before him, grinning widely, looking so much like he had when he was still alive that Aang felt tears stinging the corners of his eyes. "Sokka," he whispered, then allowed his friend to enfold him in a warm hug._

* * *

_A/N: I am considering taking this story down until I've actually finished it. This is quite literally as far as I've gotten and I hate how long it's taking me. It's not fair to the readers, especially when other stories keep getting in the way (curse you, plot bunnies!). But if I do take it down, I promise I will finish it and then repost, cleaning and editing as I do so. So if the story vanishes, at least you'll know why. Thanks for hanging in there in spite of my sporadic updates._


	11. Land of the Living

_Sokka stepped back and looked Aang up and down when the hug ended. "Well, you certainly grew up, nice job! You're taller than me now!"_

"_I'm a dad, too," Aang said proudly. His smile vanished as his words reminded him why he'd come here. "Sokka, you must know why…"_

_Sokka nodded soberly. "Yeah, buddy, I know. And I'm really sorry about all this. I just wish I could be down there with you guys, helping out, instead of, y'know," he said, waving an arm vaguely to indicate the Spirit Realm all about them._

_Aang grasped his wrist eagerly. "But there must be something you can do to help, Sokka! Your own son is missing, surely that means you can give me some kind of a clue, something to put me on the kidnapper's trail!"_

_Sokka's face fell. "Aww, come on, Aang, you know you can't ask me that!"_

"_Sokka, please," he plead. "You have to help us!"_

"_Come on, it doesn't work that way. I'm not allowed to just give you all the answers! That's cheating!"_

"_So cheat," Aang snarled, his temper fraying as he met with yet another obstacle standing in the way of his children's freedom. "Sokka, it's not just my son and daughter, it's your niece and your own son! Don't you want me to save them?"_

_Sokka looked even gloomier at Aang's words. "Yeah, of course I do," he said, his voice taking on a defensive tone. "But I can't just say, hey, so-and-so has them in such-and-such a place, go get 'em, tiger! Like I said, it doesn't work that way. Even if I wanted to cheat, I _can't_. If I just opened up my mouth and told you all the answers to all the problems, you know there's no way you'd be allowed to leave. The world would be short one Avatar and I'd be in deep doo-doo."_

_He was right, and Aang knew it, but it didn't make him feel any better. "Fine," he growled. "Then tell me what you _can_ do to help us."_

_Sokka's expression turned thoughtful. "Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to let you know that one of the places you've been holds the key. The place where it all began. But that's all I can tell you, I mean it!" he added at Aang's hopeful look._

_The Avatar was certainly desperate enough to try and wheedle more information out of his friend's spirit, but something about Sokka's calm, implacable face kept him silent. He simply nodded his thanks at the clue he'd been given – the place where it all began, that had to be Ba Sing Se – and turned his attention inward, finding his center so he could return to the material plane he'd left only a few short minutes ago._

"_Aang."_

_He looked at Sokka, whose eyes were filled with sorrow and regret. "Buddy, just one last thing. It's going to get worse before it gets better. A lot worse. But in the end, I know you'll figure things out in time to save them all. Even Katara. And please – tell Suki I love her and miss her something fierce, will ya?"_

_Then he was gone, the Spirit Realm fading around him, Aang spiraling back toward consciousness even as he demanded to know what was going to happen to Katara._

**oOo**

"Well? Did you find him? Did he tell you who has the children?"

Aang blinked and levered himself up on his elbows. "Ba Sing Se," he croaked out as Katara rushed to bring him a glass of water. He gulped it down, ignoring Toph's demands for more information. She'd been the one to ask the questions that greeted him upon his return to consciousness, no surprise there, and she was the one who was going to be the most disappointed when he told them what he'd learned – and what he _hadn't_ learned – from Sokka.

He sat up, returning the glass to Katara with a grateful smile as he described the meeting. He could feel Toph's disappointment when he admitted that the only piece of information he'd received from Sokka had been the clue about Ba Sing Se being the key. "So I guess we missed something," he concluded, keeping his eyes on Suki's tightly-controlled features. "Something important. I need to go back there right away."

"Not without the rest of us, you're not." That was Zuko, of course, in full-on imperious Fire Lord mode. "My uncle and mother have agreed to take on a temporary regency until this crisis is resolved, and you know there's no way we'll let you go off on your own, not if there really is something to find in Ba Sing Se."

Katara, who was gripping his hand tightly, nodded, and Aang swallowed a lump of fear for her safety as Sokka's words – the ones he hadn't shared with the others – rang through his mind: _I know you'll figure out how to save them all. Even Katara._

He just wished he knew if it was otherworldly confidence speaking, or just Sokka hoping that would be so.


End file.
